Amazon puffer

The Amazon puffer is one of the very few truly freshwater pufferfish, native to the Amazon and Orinoco river systems where it lives in flowing river channels. Reaching about 8 cm, it has a green-and-yellow banded back over a pale belly and is far more active and social than most puffers. Unusually for the family, it does best in a shoal of six or more, which spreads out fin-nipping tendencies; kept singly or in pairs it tends to become nippy and stressed. It requires plenty of swimming space and strong flow. Its ever-growing beak-like teeth must be worn down with hard-shelled foods, so the diet should feature snails, small clams, crustaceans and frozen invertebrates rather than soft flakes. Water should be soft to moderately hard, slightly acidic to neutral and pristine, as puffers are sensitive to poor quality and scaleless. An intermediate species needing diet and grouping attention.